You won't be disappointed!

Simply Perfect

A different way of telling a story

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

After tracking down the "work print" cut to writer/directing auteur Dario Argento's underrated 1993 Giallo Trauma,I decided to search around online,for details about other Argento movies with different cuts.Taking a look at Amazon UK reviews,I was pleased to discover that an uncut edition of The Stendhal Syndrome had come out on DVD in the UK,which led to me getting ready to see another painting by Argento.The plot:Walking around an art gallery, Det. Anna Manni finds herself overcome with the emotions expressed in the paintings,which leads to Manni fainting in the gallery.After a fellow visitor to the gallery called Alfredo Grossi helps her to regain consciousness,Manni rushes back to her hotel.Trying to make sense in her bedroom of what has taken place,Manni is suddenly gripped by Grossi,who slams her on the bed.Taking a razor blade out of his mouth,Grossi rapes Manni,and leaves his own permanent mark,by cutting a scar across her cheeks.Surviving the attack,Manni discovers that her attacker is a suspected serial rapist, who has also started to murder his victims.Tracking down Grossi,Manni soon discover that the scar he left her runs deeper than it originally appeared.View on the film:Reuniting with composer Ennio Morricone, (who gives a spidery score,designed to sound exactly the same played backwards or forwards!)Dario Argento gives the film a blistering opening,with the titles motif of cut lips,blood and razor blades giving this Giallo a strong,rather peculiar Freudian cut.Being the first Italian film to use CGI effects,Argento and cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno largely use the effects to show Manni's psychological breakdown,with the stylish scenes of Manni melting into paintings giving the title a supernatural quality,whilst Argento's attempts to mix the eye- catching,ultra stylised practical effects-made murder scenes with CGI reveals a film maker who is a bit too excited with his new toy.Taking a unique approach to the screenplay,Argento and co-writer Franco Ferrini place the viewer on an insider perspective to the unfolding mystery,by making the amateur sleuth a victim of the rapist/killer,and also uncovering the unknown murderers identity within the first 10 minutes.Whilst Argento does strike a bold note by solving the mystery early on,the Giallo elements are never able to fully recover,due to their being no mystery or tension of finding the "unknown" for the film to build upon,which leads to the Giallo elements plodding along to the finish line.Keeping away from giving the Giallo any sense of sexual excitement,Argento shows the rape of Manni in a horrific, aggressive manner,with Argento focusing on Manni's face to show the full effect that the attack (s) have on her.Pushing the Giallo element's to the side for the final 60 minutes,the writer's attempt to roll out a warped Film Noir,with Manni being shown as a tragic dame,who is slowly losing her mind. Disappointingly ,the writers fail to build any psychological depth to Manni during the opening hour,which leads to Manni's gradual fall into copying the person who destroyed her,lacking the emotional impact that the film desires.Whilst she does show a real sense of fury in Manni's case to track down Grossi (played with a real viciousness by Thomas Kretschmann- who would reunite with Dario Argento for Dracula 3D) ,Asia Argento gives a stilted performance as Manni,with Asia Argento feeling completely detached to the emotionally fragile events that Manni is experiencing,which leads to this being a Giallo which won't cause any viewers to faint.

I haven't seen "Stendhal Syndrome" in more then ten years, so I was quite thrilled when I found it on DVD (the sweet 2 disc edition) and decided to give it a shot and see if I could still be amazed by Argento.and how does this movie hold? Rather well I must say. While it's certainly not good as some of the Argento's earlier work, it's still one of the highlights of Argento's career. Comparing it with his early masterpieces is hard, since "Stendhal Syndrome" is much more different. It's based on personal experience Argento had as a child, much like "Phenomena" was based on Argento's current obsession of that time.Narrative is very complex and it might be bit hard to fallow if you aren't fully concentrated or you are not familiar with Argento's narrative style - while his stories are usually linear in terms of story progression, but he often uses fragmented narrative which give some scenes dream-like narrative (this worked rather well in his supernatural movies, like Suspiria). Story itself is bit different from his early giallo movies, because in this one, violence doesn't happen often (but when they do, they are rather nasty) and it's more character driven. It's true psychological thriller (modern filmmakers who sell their torture porn as "psychological" please learn from Mr. Argento and this movie) where we fallow the psyche of detective Anna Manni (played by Asia Argento, director's daughter) as she tries to fight serial killer and her personal demons that grow stronger after each encounter with him. (I won't go into much details because of the spoilers).Dario Argento's visual style is still impressive, and his camera work fits perfectly with narrative and storytelling. There are some beautiful shots and interesting camera work. There's also use of contrast much like in Suspiria, but in SS, Argento had some very good moments that impressed me. In some scenes, where we fallow Anna in her apartment, contrast is strong and colors can be bright, but as the movie progresses, colors are becoming much darker and "realistic". There's a scene where Anna confronts the killer in underground (sewers) and movie drastically changes from white and red (Anna's apartment) into black, gray and brown (not only because of the set, but because Argento decided to saturate those colors even more).Asia Argento is beautiful as usual and she gives a strong performance here.Music is haunting and creepy, and perfectly fits with the movie. Watch this in original Italian audio, English dub wasn't that good.6.5/10 but I gave it 7, because Dario Argento is awesome guy in person. Meet him few years back and he was funny, charming and very down-to- earth.

I am giving this an 8 out of 10 because it is by Dario Argento, who I love. There are several things about Dario Argento's films that I don't love. Number one on that list would be the dubbing. I would prefer it if Argento would let the actors speak Italian and have subtitles at the bottom of the screen. I would love to hear Asia Argento speak Italian in this movie. I would love it if her vocals were not put in later, but instead were recorded by a boom mike over her head. I hate dubbing period, but I have gotten used to the use of it in Argento's films. The first half of the movie was kind of hard to get through, but it wasn't bad. I think Asia is a great actress, and she has a great style. I think she is going to have a breakout role one day that will cause the whole world to know her as a household name. The second half, I would call the "blonde wig" half of the movie was so much better than the first half. However, you can't have one without the other. If the first half is dark, the second half is the light. The scenes with Asia and Marie in the park and on the scooter were great. The scooter scene with Asia and Marie riding along the street with the old buildings in the background was one of the best cinematic moments I have seen in a while. I even liked how the people in the other cars were waving. I did not see the twist coming at the end. The whole movie reminded me of Silence of the Lambs, Cape Fear, Vertigo, Alice in Wonderland (when Asia is in the blue dress, running down the alternate exit of her building), and that Ashley Judd movie, Kiss The Girls. There were also several parts that reminded me of other Argento movies, but that is a given in all of his movies. The score was really cool. The closeups of the bullet traveling through skin was kind of neat, too. All in all, not bad - much more complex than his Hitchcock movie, but that wasn't too bad either. I also love how Argento always uses great locations for movies ... as if he is paying homage to all the beautiful parts of Italy (and Germany sometimes). It really makes you want to visit every place, and Hitchcock did the same with his movies. The only thing about Argento that bugs me is that he never can seem to make a really good, dark, complete movie. I think Suspiria is one of his few movies that worked on every level. I enjoyed Phenomena (Creepers), too, and I remember liking Deep Red (but I need to watch it again ... it has been a while). I just wish he would do something that really puts all of his talent into one movie.

Story: Stendhal Syndrome is defined by good old wikipedia as being, "a psychosomatic illness that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to art, usually when the art is particularly beautiful or a large amount of art is in a single place," and that's the very first thing that our main protagonist, played by Asia Argento, experiences in this movie.(SPOILER HEAVY SYNOPSIS) She goes to an art museum and becomes overwhelmed by the art and forgets that she's a detective trying to track a rapist. This ends with the rapist finding her and doing to her what rapists do best. The rest of the movie is her playing cat and mouse with the rapist, as well as trying to psychologically deal with the combined trauma of being raped and her experience with Stendhal Syndrome. At no point is the audience convinced that Asia's character is sane, because immediately after succumbing to Stendhal Syndrome, prior to being raped, she forgets her name, job, and identity. We see her with the rapist, but we never see any other characters around. Because Asia's character has already shown a lack of sanity, we begin to wonder if there really is a rapist at all. (END SPOILERS) The storyline is crafted well enough and was decently original. I have to give this a B.Acting: There were some very strong performances here, and unfortunately I can't quite deduce which actor played which character, so I will have to identify them by their occupations. I was particularly impressed by the art student, the sort of boyfriend, and, well, the rapist himself (if I ever run for political office, I know that quote will come back to haunt me!) and Asia Argento gave a great, if slightly disturbing performance considering that this movie was directed by her FATHER! I mean, she gets beaten up, bloodied, does horrible things, goes crazy, and gets raped not once but twice in a very graphic manner... and her father was behind the camera? Entertaining, but creepy! B Direction: Dario Argento cast his daughter in this movie, the sick bastard! Besides that, the direction was pretty good overall. The audience felt disoriented with Asia's character and very much empathized with her along the way, even though they should be questioning her sanity throughout. B Visuals: This movie would not have worked without the art that was selected for the museum and Asia's home later in the movie. They all helped to create a surreal atmosphere. However, this was the first Italian movie to use CG... and it shows. The CG looks very bad and jarringly out of place when it appears. COverall: This is a decent little movie, even if it suggests deep rooted issues within the Argento family. It should have been shorter, but it's not in Transformers 2 territory of obscenely long. B